Monday, January 30, 2012

10 months



 Yes, I know I sound like a broken record every month, but I just can't believe she's another month older!  TEN months...that's just crazy!  I still feel like a kid myself, so how is it that we have a child who is getting ready to celebrate her first birthday and will probably be walking in the next couple of months!  I've been having these moments lately (especially when I'm at my desk at school looking at her pictures) where I just think "I can't believe she's our daughter!" 
  • She weighs about 20 1/2 pounds, but not really sure about her length.
  • She is in size 3 diapers.
  • She wears mostly 12 month clothes, but I have bought a couple of pairs of 18 month leggings because if I buy any smaller they just ride up to her knees!  (And this little thing has a macho belly...so the bigger sizes fit fine around the waistline too! HA!)
  • Typical daily schedule is to get up around 7, take a morning nap around 9:30 (we only let her sleep about 45 minutes tops), lunch around 11:45ish, afternoon nap from about 1-3:15, supper around 5, and nurse at 8 and then bedtime.  Breakfast is milk, oatmeal, and fruit.  Lunch is milk and veggies.  She usually has a little snack at Nonna's after she gets up from her nap.  Supper is milk, and then meat, veggies, and fruits.  Usually when we eat supper (which is around 6:15) she eats some of our table food and feeds herself puffs.  This little thing can PUT IT AWAY!  She likes everything...spaghetti, green beans, bread, etc..
  • She still drinks breast-milk only.  I pump before we get her up in the mornings, and I pump over lunch at school, and then she nurses before supper and before bed.  I still can't believe my body is still doing this!  If it's the weekend I don't have to pump, so I don't dip into my supply, but during the week I'm getting into my supply almost everyday.  We usually give her 5 oz. bottles for breakfast and lunch, and I'm not pumping that much anymore (usually around 4 each time). 
  • She is quite the little jabberbox...she babbles away but says "dadadadada" way more than "mamamama" right now (tear, tear).  She also says "nananana" (which Nonna says is probably because she hears "Nonna" all day long). 
  • Some of her new "things" include raising her hands when we ask her "how big is Brynn?", semi-pointing at things, and blowing a whistle (she loves to do this and it's hilarious!)  She is getting pretty good at waving to people.  She likes to patty-cake and does the clapping, rolling it up, and then raises her arms up for the last part.
  • She can WALK WITH HER WALKER!  It used to go too fast for her, but now she can pretty much do it all over the house.
  • She is the fastest little crawler...she is quick!  Lindsey says we need to enter her in the Super Kids race because they have a crawler division and she says Brynn would cream everyone! HA!
  • She is into EVERYTHING...I turned around for a second tonight and she had unrolled the roll of toilet paper all over the bathroom floor!
  • She has a "lovey"...her little soft baby.  We put it in her crib at night and a lot of times we will find her arms wrapped around it when we get her up.  She also takes her paci more now...we usually only give it to her in the car, but she doesn't always enjoy car rides and it is amazing how quiet she is with it! HA!
  • She's become quite a fan of her daddy...she loves to follow him around the house and even cried once when he left!
  • The last 3 Sundays at church she has cried when we've dropped her off, although they said it only took about a minute before she stopped crying. 
  • This was the first month she got really sick...her first ear infection.  It took 2 rounds of antibiotics and a couple of weeks to finally get over.








 

What an incredible 10 months it has been!  We've been to see 2 friends newborns lately and it just boggles my mind how tiny they are and how much they grow in just a few short months.  Babies are truly miracles from the Lord!

Sunday, January 29, 2012

Book Exchange

Quick ear infection update...Brynn started the stronger antibiotic last Monday and slept well Monday and Tuesday night, but was up Wednesday night.  We didn't know if the ear infection was still there or if she was just in a weird sleep pattern because of it, so we had them check her ears on Friday and he said it looked much better.  She slept well this weekend so we are praying that it is finally gone and everyone's nighttime sleep can go back to normal!

A few weeks ago a friend at school gave me a letter about participating in a "book exchange."  It is kind of like an old school chain letter.  All I had to do was buy and send one book (and mail letters to 6 friends) and Brynn is supposed to get 36 books!  Isn't that fun?  (Don't make me explain how that works, but it does...if everyone participates).  Brynn got her first book in the mail last week and we were so excited when we found it in the mailbox!

YAHOO!  My first book!  We didn't even take off our coats before we were tearing into the package!

Let's open it!

She got slightly distracted in the kitchen...

An animal board book!

It is such a perfect book for Brynn!  It has lots of pictures of animals and pages that talk about their colors, their stripes or spots, etc.

Oooo...Brynn makes this noise a lot "ooo, ooo, ooo." 

We hope we get several more books in the mail! 

Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Nosy Girl...

Oh this little child...she loves to get into EVERYTHING!  This weekend we put cabinet locks out in the family room because she likes to open the cabinets and pull everything out! HA!  Nonna said she is one of the nosiest little ones ever!  =)  Here is a 30 minute sneak peek into what Brynn likes to do on a random Tuesday night.

I think I'll go into the guest bathroom and open all the drawers and pull everything out.  (This is one of her favorite activities by far!)

Gee...what's in here?  Oh I found some mouthwash.  Cool!

Then I'll sit down and shake the mouthwash container with a big smile all over my face! 

Okay, the mouthwash got old so I'll go stand up by the tub (seriously she LOVES to stand here and play with the fabric and vinyl shower curtain and shake them).

Ooo...what happens when I push the door shut?  (Another favorite activity right now is shutting doors and opening them and watching what happens when she does that).

YAY!  It's finally bathtime!  (She LOVES sticking the letters and numbers to the tub wall and pushing them around.)

Yumm....letter X is so tasty!  (She LOVES to put them in her mouth and chew on them!  Then again, right now there isn't anything she doesn't love to put in her mouth and chew on!)
So there's just a little 30 minute peek into the fabulous life of Brynn Bandermann!

Monday, January 23, 2012

Go Away Ear Infection!

Well..it's finally happened.  I figured the dreaded ear infection would eventually hit, and it has.  Actually, it happened last week (and I meant to blog about it but never got around to it).  A couple of weeks ago Brynn started waking up in the middle of the night.  Every other night she would wake up and NOT want to lay back down.  I realize now that it was probably pressure and pain in her ears.  Well finally last Tuesday I was talking to some girls I teach with about it, and wondered if it was a weird sleep issue she was going through when they suggested maybe it was her ears.  I hadn't seen her touch them or act fussy really, but figured that could be it.  The more I thought about it I really felt like we should take her in.  Ryan was off work that day so I made an appoinment, which he thought was crazy.  But an hour later I got a text from him that said "mama was right, double ear infection."  POOR THING!  We got antibiotics and thought we were good to go.  She seemed more like herself and slept fine from Tuesday until this Sunday.  Then Sunday she was really fussy, and I saw her messing with her ears, and she woke up again in the night really fussy and wouldn't lay down.  So...we took her in again today and it's BACK...or rather never fully went away?  We are on new antibiotics so hopefully this will take care of it for good.  Ahhhh....I think that's one of the hardest things of being a parent, especially at this age.  You just have no idea what is wrong...I'm wondering "is she teething?  Does she need tylenol?"  I think God is probably getting tired of hearing the same prayer from me ALL DAY..."God give me wisdom to know what to do."  It is also really makes me thankful I live in this century...you guys are going to crack up but since she's had her ear infection it really makes me think "wow, what did the pioneers do?"  They had to wait on Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman to come around once every few months...yikes!  Thank you Lord for doctors and medicine!

What post would be complete without a picture?  I think I've posted this one before, but can you guess why I am posting it again?  OUR MIZZOU TIGERS ARE NUMBER 2 IN THE NATION!  Woohooooo!  Go Tigers!

Saturday, January 21, 2012

Upward Basketball

Today we went by the SEMO Rec Center to watch a couple of our family friends' kids play basketball and cheer! This is the first year Ryan hasn't coached a team, and it was fun just showing up and watching all the kids! Brynn was crawling all over the place, and I had to pull her off the court several times because she was trying to get in on the action!! Ha!



Watching Mason play basketball...



We had to grab her off the court! Haha!!



Marlee did such a great job cheering! She loves to play with Brynn!



Brynn was eating it up! I told Heather its probably going to feel like no time at all before Brynn is cheering just like Marlee! (or playing basketball...who knows?) Ryan was holding her up to the rim so she could dunk her baby doll! Haha!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Catching up with iPhone pics...

My cousin just taught me how to use this blog app to post my iPhone pictures! I am so excited!!! Here are just a few random things that have been going on.






My parents help lead the college ministry at church and they had some international students over for lunch on Sunday. Brynn made lots of new friends!







She's also been dealing with the monster of all colds...I took this when she got up the other morning. She had green goo all the way from her nose to her mouth...gross!!




Hanging with Lindsey and curt before they had to go back to school. They were being a bit cheesy when I snapped this pic...

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Fun at the Library

Last week we had a random snow day...by the end of the day the roads were fine so my sister (who was still in town from Christmas break) and I took Brynn to the library to play. They have the coolest little play area!



Playing at the magnet table with Aunt Lindsey



They have so much cool stuff on the walls...stuff with different textures, stuff to spin, etc.



She loved crawling through the tunnel into this little area!



So much fun!!



I LOVE this pic!!!

We have already been back with some friends because we had the BEST time at the library!!

Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Saturday, January 14, 2012

Brynn's New Cousin is going to be a...


That's right...those pink balloons means we are going to have another NIECE! 
Brynn's going to have another GIRL cousin! 

Sarah did the COOLEST thing for their new baby's "gender reveal."  They had their routine "gender reveal" ultrasound, but asked for the ultrasound girl (who happens to go to church with us) to NOT tell them the gender.  They had her call a party store and the party store blew up the right color of balloons and put them in a big box.  They taped the lid down and Sarah's mom picked up the box and took it to Pam and Rick's, where lots of family and friends were waiting to see what COLOR balloons were going to fly out of the box...blue or pink!  What a cool idea!  Jason, Sarah, and Ansley were surprised along with everyone else!

Ansley was waiting to help pull the lid off the box. 

Getting ready to pull it off...
 
PINK BALLOONS!

YAY!  Everyone was so excited to see the balloons fly out!

We were supposed to wear pink or blue depending on what we thought the baby would be...looks like I was RIGHT! 
(I actually had no idea what I thought the baby would be, but I didn't have a blue shirt so I wore a pink one...hahaha!)

Brynn is so excited for her new cousin who is due to arrive at the beginning of June!  They will only be a little over a year apart and I can't wait for them to be the best of friends!  I can already picture all of our shopping trips now!
Congrats Jason and Sarah and Ansley!  We can't wait to meet new Little Miss Bandermann this summer!

Thursday, January 12, 2012

Dinnertime Fun

Brynn is LOVING  all the table food she has been having lately!  It's so crazy to see our tiny little baby now grown up into a big girl who can feed herself!  After her 9 month checkup her pediatrician said she can eat pretty much anything (except peanut butter, etc.).  The other night we were having steak and sweet potatoes so she got to eat some little bites of sweet potato, which she really liked!

Lots of fun at supper!

HAPPY GIRL!

She is really into playing little "games."  When something makes her laugh or she thinks she is being funny she will do it over and over again.

Cheesy smile!

She even likes to help load the dishwasher!  HAHA!  Actually, she just likes to get into everything that has already been put in the dishwasher!

Hope your dinnertime is just as fun (and messy) as ours is!

Monday, January 9, 2012

Go Tigers!

On Saturday we cheered on the Mizzou Tigers and Brynn wore her little Mizzou dress!  We are loving watching our number 4 ranked basketball team! Unfortunately Brynn's clothes didn't help our team and we lost our first game of the season...oh well...


 
Go Tigers!



















Playing with Aunt Lindsey






























Anybody want to play ball with me?



























Here's to a great rest of the basketball season! Go Tigers!